About This Unit
61st Infantry Battalion AMF
The 61st Australian Infantry Battalion (Queensland Cameron Highlanders) was a Militia Battalion in the Australian Army. As an indication of the desperation of the situation they were sent to Milne Bay in New Guinea in mid-1942 and within weeks the Battalion found itself in the front line against Japanese invaders.
This inexperienced militia battalion soon learned on the job, as they slowed and stopped the first attacks along the swampy coastline of the bay. They played a key part in the defeat of the Japanese and later in the war, were in action again. This time they were on the island of Bougainville where a slow grinding war of attrition was fought out in the dark and steamy jungle.
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